The terms used for cereals in the Rig Veda are:
- A.Godhuma and Vrihi
- B.Yava and Dhanya
- C.Tila and Khala
- D.Priyangu and Shyamaka
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Yava and Dhanya. The Rig Veda has only a few words for cereals, and the main ones are yava and dhanya. Yava most likely meant barley, the chief grain of the early Vedic people, though in early use it may have stood for grain in general, and dhanya is a general word for grain. The Rigvedic people were mainly pastoral and measured wealth in cattle, so farming plays a smaller part in the hymns. Rice and wheat become prominent only in the later Vedic texts, when settlement spread into the Ganga plains. Option A is wrong because godhuma (wheat) and vrihi (rice) appear in later Vedic literature, not as the cereals of the Rig Veda. Option C is wrong because tila is sesame, an oilseed, and khala means a threshing floor, not a cereal. Option D is wrong because priyangu and shyamaka are millets named in later Vedic texts. Exam tip: the Rig Veda knows yava (barley); the later Vedic texts add vrihi (rice) and godhuma (wheat).
Practice Questions
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